MEDIA RELEASE

19 JULY 2006

Memo to anti-smacking lobby – please tell the truth!

The opponents of s59 of the Crimes Act continue to misquote Swedish figures (as occurred on TVNZ ‘s Close Up tonight) and thereby mislead the public of NZ.

They state that only 1 child abuse happens on average every 4 years in Sweden since the smacking ban.

This is totally false. In the first 3 months of this year alone, there have been 4 child homicides!

1. Leo – 3 years old – killed by his mother February 2006.
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=3387&date=20060327

2. 3 year old Freddie, adopted by a Swedish couple in 2005. He did not behave in the way they had expected him to and when he peed on the floor, his adoptive mother made him lick it up. He died of ill-treatment and lack of care January 8, 2006
http://www.adoption.com/includes/frame.php?url=http://www.radio.cz/en/article/76401

3. “The flag outside Tungelsta school, south of Stockholm, was at half-staff this morning, a sombre tribute to the 12-year-old student who was stabbed to death over the weekend. Police were quick in detaining the girl’s 26-year-old stepfather. He is in custody for allegedly murdering the girl and raping her 13-year-old friend.”
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=3930&date=20060529

4. Bobby, 10, reported ‘disappeared’ in January 2006 while his mother and stepfather were visiting a shopping centre in Gothenburg. The Police searched far and wide. In February, the mother broke down and led the Police to the spot on a frozen lake where they had dumped the biy’s body after wrapping him in plastic bags
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=4022&date=20060609

In fact, after the ‘Bobby’ case, Sweden's government was to set up a special commission to investigate cases where children die in violent circumstances. Morgan Johansson, the public health minister, said "Every year, eight to ten, sometimes as many as twelve children die in Sweden due to violence. This has been true for several years," Johansson said. http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=3734&date=20060505

End of story – please.

ENDS

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